NBC will use Akamai video streaming delivery for Olympic coverage

File photo: Canada’s Sidney Crosby leaps in the air after scoriung the game-winning goal in the overtime period of the men's gold medal ice hockey game against team USA at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Photographer Chris O'Meara/AP.

Akamai Technologies Inc., a Cambridge-based provider of Internet content delivery services, said Wednesday that it has been selected to provide online video streaming delivery, site performance, and security services to the NBC unit that will be covering the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, from Feb. 6 through Feb. 23.

With Akamai, NBC Olympics can efficiently deliver high-quality video through NBCOlympics.com and the NBC Sports Live Extramobile app. These experiences are automatically optimized for viewing devices and network variability while enjoying protection against malicious traffic, Akamai said in a press release.

“The Sochi Olympics mark the first time that all Winter Games competitions will be streamed live,” Akamai said in its release. “For live and on-demand video delivery, NBC Olympics is leveraging Akamai Digital Media solutions to stream all 98 events, including every medal competition, event highlights, and athlete interviews, and profiles. Akamai is also supporting DVR functions such as pause and event rewinds. The suite of cloud-based media workflow, storage and delivery tools provides the necessary quality and scale to solve the challenges of multi-device consumption.”

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In a statement, Akamai chief marketing officer Brad Rinklin added, “A production of the importance, scope and magnitude of NBC Olympics’ digital experience involves countless complexities that can be managed through Akamai’s cloud-based solutions.”